UM SEEKS FUNDS TO AID JACKSON MEMORIAL

The University of Miami, saying it will run a budget deficit this year for the first time in a decade, is asking state legislators for $10 million to offset the cost of caring for indigent people at Jackson Memorial Hospital.

President Reagan's budget cuts, combined with South Florida's refugee influx and the state's low Medicaid payments, are making it increasingly difficult to collect money for treating the poor, UM President Edward T. "Tad" Foote II said in an interview Thursday.

When penniless people show up on the doorstep at Jackson, the nation's fifth-largest medical center, the hospital must care for them with UM footing part of the bill. UM officials already are facing a tight budget situation, and the medical center's problems, if they continue, could jeopardize the school's financial health.

Last year, the bill -- the gap between revenues and operating costs -- was $38 million, hospital and university officials said.

Foote asked legislators this week for a $10 million "emergency" infusion. He said he would be justified to ask for the entire $38 million, but he said he knows he would not get that much.

Senate Appropriations Chairman Pat Neal, D-Bradenton, was cool to the request Thursday, while House budget chief Sam Bell, D-Ormond Beach, said he had been under the impression UM only wanted about $1 million.

Jackson serves residents of Broward and Palm Beach counties because it is a regional health center that provides the only care in South Florida for special health problems -- such as severe burns and acquired immune defeiciency syndrome.

For example, 54 of the 180 AIDS sufferers treated at Jackson last year were from Broward. Richie Baumann, a youngster from Delray Beach paralyzed when he was accidentally shot by a playmate, is being treated at Jackson's special unit for spine injuries.

It is because of this regional service that UM administrators feel justified in asking for state money to help support Jackson, said Leon Zucker, vice president for finance at Jackson.

UM doctors, interns and residents work at Jackson, and it serves as the school's teaching hospital. But Foote told legislators his school's relationship with Jackson Memorial could be threatened if UM continues to lose money on the deal. He confirmed Thursday that UM has considered finding another hospital to serve the school, but that he would rather maintain the long-standing relationship with Jackson.

"We are flat out of money," Foote told lawmakers. "For the first time in the last decade, the University of Miami is going to operate at a deficit . . . If we don't figure out some way for those indigent people, that partnership will be threatened."

David Lieberman, UM vice president for business and finance, said the school is not out of money, but that its operating deficit last year -- essentially, money that has to come out of the school's net worth -- was about $6 million. The college of medicine's annual budget is about $160 million, about half the school's budget.

Lieberman said UM has retained an "A" bond rating, was able to sell bonds recently and had about $14 million in the bank as of last Friday.

"Our financial problems are serious enough that there is a growing fiscal crisis at the medical center," Foote said.

Jackson is owned by Dade County and run by a citizens board of directors appointed by the County Commission. Its relationship with UM is unique, Foote said. The problems caused by cutbacks in federal aid to the needy, however, are affecting hospitals nationwide, said Bernard Fogel, dean of the UM medical school.

"If this state had a Medicaid system that provided (payments) anywhere near the median, we would not have these problems," Fogel said. "These (indigents) are people who just drop on our doorstep . . . It's putting tremendous pressure on our budget."

Bell said he is looking at taking money to aid UM from a fund created by the Health Care Access Act of 1984, which takes 1 percent of hospitals' gross operating revenues this year and 1.5 percent next year.

Once the fund is established by several years of contributions, Jackson's problem should be solved, the lawmaker said.

Neal, however, was pessimistic about the Legislature's willingness to fork over $10 million if it comes from tax money because there will be little new tax money available.

"We're not even going to fund one-sixth of what have been identified as worthwhile programs," Neal said. "It's going to be very difficult to give UM ($10 million) notwithstanding the merit of the request."